Carol Platt Liebau: Candidates on the Amnesty Bill

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Candidates on the Amnesty Bill

Rudy Giuliani's communications director has issued the following statement:

"Rudy's top priority and main objective is to ensure our borders are secure and to stop potential terrorists and criminals from coming in. The recent Fort Dix plot is a stark reminder that the threat of terrorism has made immigration an important matter of national security. We need to know who is coming in and who is going out of this country if we are going to deal with those who are here illegally.”

Mitt Romney speaks for himself (not through a communications director) and is stronger in the terms of his denunication:

"I strongly oppose today's bill going through the Senate. It is the wrong approach. Any legislation that allows illegal immigrants to stay in the country indefinitely, as the new 'Z-Visa' does, is a form of amnesty. That is unfair to the millions of people who have applied to legally immigrate to the U.S.

Today's Senate agreement falls short of the actions needed to both solve our country's illegal immigration problem and also strengthen our legal immigration system. Border security and a reliable employment verification system must be our first priority."
(Too bad he didn't add the national security element, a good feature of Rudy's response).

And then, of course, there is John McCain:

“A comprehensive plan for immigration reform is long overdue. I am proud to join this distinguished bipartisan group in announcing an historic overhaul of our immigration system,” McCain said. “The legislation we announce today represents weeks, months -- and in some cases -- years of work and bipartisan negotiations. I’m proud of our work, our process, and our product.”

To put it mildly: From the sublime (Romney and Giuliani) to the ridiculous.

2 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

If McCain is proud of this bill then it's time for him to drop out of the race because he has lost the conservative base. The bill is a pandering aberration and a complete sell out. The Republican Party has lost its courage and it's will.

5:57 PM  
Blogger Greg said...

I've heard lots of bluster about this bill but very littel detail about what's actually IN the bill. It's too soon for me to decide if I think it's a sell out or not.

Also, in case the Republican Base has gotten so angry they've forgotten, Republicans are not in the majority in either the Senate or the House. How, exactly are Republican lawmakers supposed to pass the conservative Republican's perfect vision of an immigration law?

I realize that passing no law at all is better than passing bad law. But I say let's see what this bill actually does before we decide that it is worse than no action at all.

10:46 AM  

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